


Tea and Talk

by ReleasingmyInsanity



Category: Enchanted Forest Chronicles - Patricia Wrede
Genre: Bechdel Test Pass, Collection: Purimgifts Extras, Female Friendship, Female-Centric, Food, Gen, Mentions of canon events, Possible Spoilers, Women Being Awesome, Women In Power, mentions of social reform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-25 02:44:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13824804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReleasingmyInsanity/pseuds/ReleasingmyInsanity
Summary: Some time post-series, Cimorene, Morwen, Alianora, and Shiara have tea/cider/gingerbread and discuss what they've been doing since they stopped the wizards.





	Tea and Talk

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ShadowEtienne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowEtienne/gifts).



"Would you pass the gingerbread please?" Alianora asked Shiara.

Shiara handed over the plate, and reached for the cider. Feeling glad that although they still had not managed to remove the politeness spell, it had at least been lessened. Even just passing a plate when asked counted as a little bit of politeness. Unfortunately, she still had to mean it when she said something polite.

As though she had picked up on her thoughts, Cimorene smiled at Shiara. "How is being polite going?"

Shiara shrugged. "It's all right being polite to people I don't know, but when I _do_ know people I don't want to be polite."

Cimorene nodded. "Perfectly understandable."

"What would you know about it?" Shiara asked, glaring. "You're the one who taught Daystar that politeness is more important than everything else."

Cimorene laughed. "What I told him was that politeness often keeps you from being eaten or cursed. I don't know how he extrapolated, 'nothing is more important than politeness' from that."

"Oh." Shiara said.

To her relief, Morwen changed the subject. "How are things in Toure-on-Marsh?" She asked Alianora, as she put the kettle back on the burner.

Alianora smiled. "The new social reforms have made things so much better for women than they were during my father's reign. We did face some resistance at first, of course. But the people are finally realizing that women can do so much more than be captured and wait for rescue. Hopefully no one will ever again feel as though their only option is to run away and become a dragon's princess."

Here she winked at Cimorene.

"We could have used such a program in Linderwall." Cimorene said thoughtfully. "Perhaps you could write to some of my sisters and suggest that they implement something similar."

Shiara agreed. "My hometown could certainly use some help with accepting people for who they are. I like working for Kazul, but..."

"But you wish your family would be more understanding," Morwen finished, handing Shiara another cup of tea.

"Mrrrow?" asked one of Morwen's cats, looking up at them from next to the table.

"No she couldn't." Morwen told the cat firmly. She turned back to Shaira "Fiddlesticks wants to know if you could turn them all into mice."

"Nightwitch asked me the same thing," Shiara told Fiddlesticks. "Only she wanted to know why I didn't turn my family into toads rather than mice."

"Maiao."

"Nightwitch is at least as sensible as you." Morwen told him.

Fiddlesticks puffed up proudly and strutted out of the room.

Morwen shook her head, "I've never known a cat as easily pleased as that one."

Cimorene laughed and leaned back in her chair. "It's nice to have a chance to relax instead of trying to repair the damage done to a kingdom by 17 years without proper leadership."

"And being somewhere where no one expects you to be anyone or do anything," Shiara said.

"Not having to explain your reasoning to fifty different people," added Alianora.

Morwen looked over her glasses at the other three women. "That's why I invited you all over. When your work is important, it's always good to have a break and a listening ear."

And with that, she took some more gingerbread out of the oven and turned their attention to the newest magical plants she had added to her garden.

**Author's Note:**

> Shiara doesn't like being polite to people she knows because she feels more comfortable with them. Being polite feels like keeping people at bay.
> 
> I have never believed that Cimorene would teach her kid to be polite to the point of ridiculousness, so I added the bit about Daystar misunderstanding her meaning.
> 
> Alianora's backstory always feels to me that she comes from an overly traditional kingdom which probably needs some major change to its societal norms, so I let her fix it.
> 
> I just really wanted to have Fiddlesticks ask about turning people into animals again. What he said about Nightwitch was "She's as sensible as me."


End file.
